Ends and Beginnings
by Aindel S. Druida
Summary: Roxas graduates from high school, and Axel has something to say on the matter.  Part of Lady Karai's Come Home contest.


**Disclaimer: Do not own. Not even the characterization, really. **

Note: This story is for Lady Karai's _Come Home _contest. If you haven't read her story yet, you'll likely not understand most of what I'm alluding to. So you should go read it now. …No, seriously, I mean it. I'll wait. …. …. …. Got it? Awesomesauce. Carry on. Oh, and please ignore Axel's run-on sentences. He's a bit of a spaz when it comes to Roxy.

* * *

**Roxas.**

The gymnasium doors burst open with a hard thrust. Whooping and hollering, a mass of bodies in blue polyester robes and square hats emptied onto the lawn of Jefferson High School followed by a crowd that, while varying in age from very young to quite old, was infinitely more fashionably dressed than the former. Hugs and slaps on the back could be seen everywhere as the sea of bodies broke off into smaller groups to socialize, take pictures, and partake of the appetizers and desserts laid out under the huge white tent set up on the schoolyard. Some groups were larger or louder than others, naturally, but there was one group that took the cake for being the most …unique. Roxas was proud to be a part of it.

Shortly after his pride came his amazement that they'd actually been allowed that many seats for just Sora, himself, and Kairi. It was generally only two or three tickets per graduate, but here were his father, step-father (holding Xion, who had modeled her unusual two-year old complacency by not making a peep throughout the hour-long torture in the less-than-sufficiently air conditioned building), step-grandparents and step-aunt, his boyfriend, his brother's boyfriend, his brother's boyfriend's brother (who was also kind of Kairi's boyfriend, but that was still a complicated subject, what with the long distance thing, and he had no interest in breaching that topic anytime in the foreseeable future), and Demyx, who was a label unto himself. Roxas had tried in the past to describe Demyx's part in his life to others, and he'd realized that it was somewhat impossible. He was his step-father's employee and former roommate, his boyfriend's best friend, the local bar's favoured musician, Xion's favourite babysitter (barring, of course, her brothers), and at some point had become a sort of confidante to the entire Leonhart-Strife family. But that was neither here nor there. Right now he was more concerned about exactly how he felt towards the sleek digital camera dangling from his father's wrist. On one hand, he would be forced to pose with a multitude of people countless times before anyone would be satisfied, and he really wasn't looking forward to that; on the other hand, the sooner the pictures were taken the sooner he could shuck the godforsaken, heat trapping, disaster of a polyester nightmare.

"Picture time!" Sora shouted, jarring everyone out of their conversations. Roxas groaned.

"Aww, come on, Roxy. A few clicks and then you're done. What could be the harm?" Axel slung his arm around his boyfriend's shoulders. Normally this would be a pleasant thing, causing all sorts of tumbling and happy butterflies inside Roxas; today, in the heat, it just made him nauseous.

"Do you not remember Sora before we left for prom?" Axel paused to remember the day he'd come over to keep his boyfriend company while his brother and friends had prodded, dressed, and brushed him into what they deemed acceptable before heading off to a local hotel to dance the night away and drink questionable punch. He nodded briefly. "Yeah, it'll be that all over again."

Before they could continue the conversation any further, Sora grabbed his twin by the arm and dragged him under the shade of a large tree, apparently so that the sun wouldn't make them squint in the photos. _Was that really necessary?_ he asked silently.

_Yes. There was no way you'd actually come over here otherwise._

_Can't you take pictures without me?_

Sora raised an eyebrow. _Roxas, until a few years ago I could barely go to the bathroom without you right beside me. Do you really think that I, or Dad for that matter, wouldn't want graduation pictures with you?_

In his heart, Roxas knew he felt the same way. His mind still hated the idea of being posed and being forced to say strange phrases while holding a facial expression that really kind of made his cheeks hurt after a while. _Just not too many._

_Of course!_

Cloud took a plethora of photos that day, as did Demyx for pictures that required the older blonde's appearance. Of all the pictures they took, though, there were two that Roxas treasured most and put on display in frames. The first had been taken of himself, Sora, and Kairi when they'd been instructed to toss their hats in the air; it was not, however, the picture of the tossing that he had, but the one that Cloud had taken a split second after that of the three of them laughing and ducking as they tried to avoid the impending hat attack. The second was taken later, after the posed photos were declared finished, and Axel pulled him over to one side.

"Hey, come here for a second." The redhead was barely looking Roxas in the face, which made him seem rather suspicious.

"Okay…" He allowed the older man to guide him by the crook of his arm closer to the trunk of the tree. Axel leaned against it, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, nervous green met with cautious blue and locked. This was doing nothing for the dread building inside of Roxas.

"Roxas, we need to talk." And that sentence just made it so much better, not to mention the use of his full first name. The blonde's vague suspicions took form in his mind, and caution quickly turned to anger in his gaze.

"Axel, I swear to whatever higher power is out there, if you're pulling a Vincent on me, you've got another thing coming. Don't feed me any crap about setting me free and my experiences in university or what the hell ever, because I think you should know enough by now to know that it doesn't matter to me. Plus, it's not like I'm even moving! I'm going to the same university my dad did, right here in town. The same one that Demyx stalks Zexion at almost every damn day. Besides, you know damn well how I feel about you, and –"

The taller male had been taken aback momentarily by the outburst of the moody shorter one, but he snapped out of it before things got too messy. He reached his hands out for Roxas's shoulders, shaking him gently to get him to stop his tirade. Slowly he shook his head, disbelief scrawled across his face in an array of fonts. "Rox, Rox, no! Calm down! No, that's not what I meant at all. I – Sorry. I didn't mean to set you off or anything. I do know how you feel about me, just as much as you know that I've been crazy in love with you for the past two years at least." Both men took a few deep breaths, trying to calm nerves for two very different reasons. Axel continued before Roxas had a chance to start again. "Look, we both know that you're turning eighteen in two days, and that's going to impact our relationship a lot."

"Axel, I _gave_ the sex talk to my dad and step-dad. I really don't need to hear it from the guy I'm going to have sex with."

"Would you just –" Another breath. "Roxas, please let me finish. This isn't easy for me." The blond nodded, sliding his right hand up Axel's arm and intertwined his fingers with the ones that were still resting on his shoulder. "We've had our ups and downs, lost our control and our tempers, done things that made me avoid your dads for a week, and we've survived all of it. While I realize that you're starting university in the fall, and that's going to bring different issues into our relationship, and yeah, there will be sex as well, I think we can manage. I know you were going to live at home with your brother and help take care of Xion while you were studying, but my apartment is closer to the university, and I know I got a better position at Tantalus when the old electrician quit, but I still don't make a ton of money, so you'd probably have to work with your brother at Leon's store or something a few days a week to help out here and there, and it's not the best place in the world but it's clean and it's big enough for two, so I was just wondering if you maybe wanted to move in with me…"

Had Roxas been paying much attention at this point, he probably would have been worried about the amount of oxygen getting to the other's brain; he was panting heavily as he trailed off at the end of his rant-turned-question. However, the blonde's synapses had shut down as soon as he realized what the redhead was implying, before the actual proposition had been voiced. Eventually his brain started to catch up with the situation, and he realized that the distraught man had been standing there, staring at him both hopefully and apprehensively, waiting for an answer. "You really want me to move in with you? Are you sure?"

He laughed in a way that might have made Kadaj proud if he'd heard it. "Am I sure? God, Rox, I'd ask you to marry me if I knew Cloud and Leon wouldn't kill me for not waiting until you were done school! As it is, I spent months groveling to the both of them for permission just to ask you. I've never been so sure of anything before in my life. …I don't think I've ever been this serious before in my life, either. It's kind of freaking me out."

Ignoring Axel's weak attempt at injecting humour into the situation, Roxas zeroed in on the first half of the man's response and reacted. The redhead quickly found himself with his arms full as the shorter male pressed him against the tree and kissed him. Blue eyes closed as electricity ran through him just as strong as it had during their first kiss so long ago. Lips slightly dry and chapped from the heat moved against one another as their bodies pressed even closer together and lanky arms wrapped around robe-clad shoulders and waist. The rest of the world was lost to the couple as they poured out their emotions to one another, completely heedless of the flash going off nearby. They'd only said out loud a handful of times that they loved each other, but their kisses said it every single time. Roxas nipped softly at Axel's bottom lip as the redhead gently broke the connection. "So is that a yes, or is that your way of cushioning the 'no, Axel, your apartment is stupid and I never want to see you again'?"

"It's a yes. I'd say that it's on the condition that you try to be less obnoxious, but I wouldn't really have you any other way." Axel genuinely smiled down at the young man still in his arms, and Roxas rolled his eyes at the way it made him fall in love all over again.

* * *

Glancing at the photo in the frame on the table by the front door, Roxas smiled softly to himself as he wound his boyfriend's scarf around his own neck. Axel didn't have to go out until after the blonde's shift at Lionhearted Books ended, so he wouldn't miss it. It had that distinctly Axel smell, and besides, it was cold outside. Locking the door before heading down and out into the still dark morning, he shivered and wished he was still snuggled under the layers of blankets on the bed with the redhead.

Not soon enough for Roxas's ungloved fingers, he reached the shop and pulled the key from his pocket to unlock the main entrance. He stowed his gear haphazardly in the back room and went about the opening duties as quietly as possible so as not to wake the likely still asleep couple in the apartment above. Though all the beans were organized and ready to be ground, the blonde felt that could be left until the noise was absolutely necessary, having some leftover grounds from yesterday to make his own cup of coffee to get him through the day. He still thought that his step-father had strange tastes in coffee, but Mexian Chiapas had grown on him. Not enough, though, that he'd bothered to find out exactly what a Chiapa was.

* * *

**End note**: No, I do not know what a Chiapa is, either. I feel like it's going to be one of those things that sound really cool to look up, but when you actually do it, you seriously don't care anymore.

Anyway, that's my story. I based it around an actual picture I have from a recent graduation of my own with a whole whackload of us standing on Main Street in Walt Disney World trying to avoid our falling Mickey grad ears. I love Photopass.

As a last note, please let me know of any typos or other strange occurrences in here. This is unbetaed, and given that I've never written a satisfactory romance story in my own opinion, I know if I go back to look at this I'll just tear it to shreds.


End file.
